Changin platforms, FDev can you help out here?

[Badmiker]

@Arthur Tolmie , @Bruce G , @Stephen Benedetti

Can you help out here?

I want to more to PC from Xbox, I had assumed that as the universe is persistent across platforms so my Elite account would be persistent but this isn't the case. I stand to lose a huge investment in the game.

I understand the loss of ranks (though as I'm not far off triple elite, this does sting): these are markers I'll happily regain by playing the game.

I appreciate the ability to transfer credits: with 1b credits and 2.6bn assets I can probably get my fleet back to where it was.

However, what about materials? There is no way to recover these? I have 10 fully engineered ships and 100ish engineered modules representing, literal, months of play-time and there is no way to use credits to recover this. Just one ship typically has 578 materials invested in it.

Given that, since Horizons, materials are a separate currency from credits, why dont FDev offer the ability to transfer materials? Ideally transferring engineered modules but, failing that, transferring a representative inventory of materials: the ship above, for example, breaks down to 100 G5 materials.

I would really appreciate a response from FDev on this. This seems out of character for the game and unnecessarily punitive. Can you help me understand it or can it even be resolved?

 

[lordzaz]

I have trouble wrapping my head around why all account assets cant be transferred across platforms, or is not accessible across multiple platforms, surely all player data is kept server-side ?

Whats the logic behind it I wonder.

 

[Bottom Hat]

You might be able to petition support to move your account, it has been done before. But I don't think they can do cosmetics because of licensure issues. Have you emailed them?

 

[Badmiker]

Where would you suggest emailing?

 

[Bottom Hat]

Where would you suggest emailing?

To be honest, just frontier support mate. That's not supposed to be sarcastic though, just the general place. I don't have it written down but I imagine it's support@ iykwim? Hopefully someone will have it if you struggle to find it. I can't promise, but I thought I'd seen people say they had done it before for them.

 

[Wrecked]

Great question, OP! Why can’t developers make this easier for gamers? Microsoft has made good strides with Xbox and PC, but platform dependency with an account driven game is just silly.

 

[Alien]

I'm fairly sure it's support@frontier.co.uk ... but I could be wrong, but that is what address my email auto-suggests

 

[Badmiker]

Here's some stats:

Playtime: 10w, 1d
Rank: Elite/Elite/Dangerous
Credits: 1.12bn
Assets: 2.7bn

I've done a rough calculation on engineering materials and estimate that in order to re-engineer my most significant ships it would take:
338 grade 5 Raw materials
839 grade 5 Encoded materials
4534 grade 5 Manufactured materials

This is based on rolls of 1,3,5,7,9 and although this excludes the benefit of trading within the same group, doesnt include the cost or re-engineering stored modules.

The thought of going through the grind of unlocking engineers, trading down all the G5 mats and of traipsing around getting experimental effects is bad enough but the idea of farming thousands upon thousands of HGEs just crushing.

Honestly, I'd rather just FDev transferred mats instead of credits: I'd relish the time earning the credits and ranks back.

 

[Caydran]

I think Fdev should have worked this out long ago. I'm sure someone has God access to a users account and if nothing else, could use that mode to manually copy in the data from one account to another. I'm sure they are just server data logs.

It just makes good business sense to keep the account data and platform type separated.

In any event, it's been six years into the game now and I don't see Fdev stepping up now and offering platform account transfers today when all this time they claimed it could not be done. I'm sure if David Braben wanted to move his account from a box platform to PC, they could do it.

 

[Decksmeck]

Hey Badmiker. I sympathize with you. You wrote that you relish the idea of earning credits and ranks back but not mats. Being that these are all a grind. I would be interested in your thoughts on why those two are fun to repeat but mats are not.

 

[Hooplah]

I'll never move my ED PS4 pro account to the PC. It has an awesome gaming chair with my multi-crew for immersion versus an office chair sitting at a desk. Also cool when not in ED racing on a track with other players internationally. Instead I purchased two more PC accounts for the bubble and exploration when they were on sale. Yes, unlocking all the engineers, getting the rep from the three Federation/Empire/Alliance to unlock ships, making triple Elite again refreshes my skills I may have forgotten.

With player experience gathering materials knowing what to do and where to go is not big deal for me. Add in material traders makes it is even faster. I've maxed the raw/manufactured/encoded on all three accounts and for fun on the PC bubble account maxed out the Guardian materials less the blueprints and I already have all their toys. Not all that hard ans something to do not getting bored awaiting Odyssey.

ED has a lot of multiple issues a player has to put together to obtain a goal. Once figured out they are very easy to accomplish. That is why there are many posts on the Forum complaining that ED is too easy! To each their own. Your play style may vary.

Then the PC version has a lot of options. That G13 gamepad on the right is dedicated just for the Camera Suite/Free Camera.

Regards

 

[FatFreddysCoat]

I’m pretty sure it’s technically possible to do, it may be a time constraint that stops FDev offering it. I’d guess that (really simplistically) there’s a data file for me on a server that says “I’ve got these ships, with these modules, engineered like this, with this mats/cargo and he’s here” so I guess it’s a “we don’t want to” rather than “we can’t”. Hell, I’d even be willing to pay a nominal fee for the ability to have it done. With the amount of time it took to get me to where I am in the game I’d pay £50 to have a full account transfer to PC when I move platform.

 

[Badmiker]

I'm no expert on this but if INARA can read data from Xbox or PC or PS then surely it's a simple matter to write this data?

I get that it might be a time/benefit judgement: but why offer transfer of credits only then?
Maybe it's a contractual thing: Microsoft/Sony not allowing this kind of platform transferring: but do Microsoft really forbid transfer between two of their products?

I really want to hear from FDev on this (tagging @Arthur Tolmie , @Bruce G , @Stephen Benedetti again).

@Decksmeck TBH I'm just looking at a worst bad case. It's not hard earning credits or ranks just by playing the game: mining, bounty hunting, exploration or anti-xeno all pay and will all earn ranks. However, there's no way of earning the number of mats needed for engineering except dedicated grinding: searching HGEs, visiting Jamiesons crash site or SRVing volcanic sites.

At a rough estimate: 4500 g5 manufactured materials: at 5 per HGE, at 2 mins collecting per HGE, at estimated 1 HGE per 5 systems, 4 mins per system jump & scan: (4500/5)*2min*4min*5 = 36,200 mins or 600 hours playtime. That's just jumping between systems, scanning the Nav beacon, flying out to HGEs and collecting materials. Just that, roughly 1000 times.

OK, I love this game. I love, particularly, engineering and I've spent hours, days, designing ships, gathering materials and then engineering the modules. The places I've been in my 60ly jumping Krait Phantom, the times I had to rebuy my Challenger until I fine tuned the ship and my technique facing off Thargoids, my most recent Vulture which rips through Anacondas: these are more than just ships, this is hard work, memories, in a game where there is no narrative/progress, these ARE my game. Why can I fly around a shared Galaxy: regardless of platform the BGS is consistent, but when I want to change platform I have to lose everything and start again? FDev?